Faraway Princess
Published Thursday, November 30, 2006 by Color/Light/Water.
Been a while.
I just returned from a two-day trip to New York. I had to stay there overnight -it wasn't so bad but I don't like hotels. Few American hotels have the kind of hospitality that Indian hotels do - unless it's the Mandarin Oriental or the Waldorf Astoria. so until I climb the social ladder to afford a night at one of those, I'll continue to hate hotels. Thank you.
I was in NY for an Innovation conference which was quite a load of bullshit. I learnt little, met some interesting people and ate breakfast cakes.That pretty much sums up the conference. But it was New York! And that city always evokes strange emotions. I met with an old fashion mag friend for lunch and while we were lunching at Rockefellar we almost bumped into Matthew Fox, the hottie from LOST. I think he was returning from a taping at the NBC Studios. Ah-ha! And then I saw paparazzi crowding a particular 6th ave store and I did a little digging around to find out a model/actress (unknown to me) was shooting inside.There are two words that describe New York: crowded and excessively crowded. Yesterday was "The Day" - when the Rockefellar center christmas tree goes live. And as you can imagine, tourists swarmed at the center to watch the famed tree come to life. It was so crowded that I hate to wait for 15 minutes for the elevator in my building. A large shipment (read tourbus) of toursits had just arrived from the airport and their suitcases littered the reception area. They were scuttling and hurring to the center to catch the live action. I realized something yesterday - that I'm not a big fan of mid-town. Funny it took me so long to come to that conclusion considering I worked in midtown.
It's just too damn full of tourists!
***
On my return trip back home I bumped into my ex-boss, the rolling-eyed devil. An editor-in-chief of a major magazine here quit and my ex-boss is interviewing for this position. She wants to shut down her company and become the EIC of a major magazine. I'll be damned if she gets that job. She hugged and air-kissed me like nothing ever happened. Actually a few days back when I was at dinner with the boyfriends parents, she called me with a quasi job-offer. I learnt a painful lesson in business that night - never burn your bridges. I spoke with her with all the grace and civility I could muster but I couldn't stop bitching about it later. I was also elated. It gave me closure and reminded me that it wasn't me or my performance that was questionable. If she called to hire me, obviously I did something right working for her. Eff it.
Why am I so obsessed with this woman? Incidentally, today we were also on the same train back to Philly and I intentionally sat two seats behind her to spy on her. Perverse no?
I don't think I will rest until I prove myself to be far more successful than her.
***
SIx friends get married this December. Out of all their weddings, I only mourn not being able to attend Tinys. She sent me an email today. Attached was a letter I had written to her in 2001. I opened it, glanced at it and closed it. See, some places I just don't visit. But on 17th December, I will read that letter. And I will dig out my box of hand-written letters and read every letter she wrote to me. I will pull out our photographs and go back to 2000. And I will cry. We were so fukin naive. We made stupid promises with no inkling about our futures.
Who knew jobs and lives and money and obligations and shit like that ran our lives.
I miss her, and I will miss her more on 17th December.
***
PS- I learnt something about myself today. I few years ago I called myself, "Faraway Princess" on MSN. Ironic?
I just returned from a two-day trip to New York. I had to stay there overnight -it wasn't so bad but I don't like hotels. Few American hotels have the kind of hospitality that Indian hotels do - unless it's the Mandarin Oriental or the Waldorf Astoria. so until I climb the social ladder to afford a night at one of those, I'll continue to hate hotels. Thank you.
I was in NY for an Innovation conference which was quite a load of bullshit. I learnt little, met some interesting people and ate breakfast cakes.That pretty much sums up the conference. But it was New York! And that city always evokes strange emotions. I met with an old fashion mag friend for lunch and while we were lunching at Rockefellar we almost bumped into Matthew Fox, the hottie from LOST. I think he was returning from a taping at the NBC Studios. Ah-ha! And then I saw paparazzi crowding a particular 6th ave store and I did a little digging around to find out a model/actress (unknown to me) was shooting inside.There are two words that describe New York: crowded and excessively crowded. Yesterday was "The Day" - when the Rockefellar center christmas tree goes live. And as you can imagine, tourists swarmed at the center to watch the famed tree come to life. It was so crowded that I hate to wait for 15 minutes for the elevator in my building. A large shipment (read tourbus) of toursits had just arrived from the airport and their suitcases littered the reception area. They were scuttling and hurring to the center to catch the live action. I realized something yesterday - that I'm not a big fan of mid-town. Funny it took me so long to come to that conclusion considering I worked in midtown.
It's just too damn full of tourists!
***
On my return trip back home I bumped into my ex-boss, the rolling-eyed devil. An editor-in-chief of a major magazine here quit and my ex-boss is interviewing for this position. She wants to shut down her company and become the EIC of a major magazine. I'll be damned if she gets that job. She hugged and air-kissed me like nothing ever happened. Actually a few days back when I was at dinner with the boyfriends parents, she called me with a quasi job-offer. I learnt a painful lesson in business that night - never burn your bridges. I spoke with her with all the grace and civility I could muster but I couldn't stop bitching about it later. I was also elated. It gave me closure and reminded me that it wasn't me or my performance that was questionable. If she called to hire me, obviously I did something right working for her. Eff it.
Why am I so obsessed with this woman? Incidentally, today we were also on the same train back to Philly and I intentionally sat two seats behind her to spy on her. Perverse no?
I don't think I will rest until I prove myself to be far more successful than her.
***
SIx friends get married this December. Out of all their weddings, I only mourn not being able to attend Tinys. She sent me an email today. Attached was a letter I had written to her in 2001. I opened it, glanced at it and closed it. See, some places I just don't visit. But on 17th December, I will read that letter. And I will dig out my box of hand-written letters and read every letter she wrote to me. I will pull out our photographs and go back to 2000. And I will cry. We were so fukin naive. We made stupid promises with no inkling about our futures.
Who knew jobs and lives and money and obligations and shit like that ran our lives.
I miss her, and I will miss her more on 17th December.
***
PS- I learnt something about myself today. I few years ago I called myself, "Faraway Princess" on MSN. Ironic?